Field of Invention
The present disclosure is related to semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared (IR) radiation, light, or electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength and adapted for the conversion of the energy of such radiation. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to a photovoltaic power converter receiver.
Description of Related Art
There is a need to produce electricity from high-energy radiation sources such as lasers at visible light or near IR wavelengths between 400 nm and 1600 nm. This is typically used where it is desired to eliminate metallic wires and to isolate the power source from a device, so as to accomplish high voltage isolation, lightning protection, or usage in electromagnetic fields or harsh environmental/hazardous locations. It is also desired to operate electrical devices at the end of a laser fiber to power lights, IGBT's, cooling fans, peltier coolers, or other devices.
Typical photovoltaic (PV) cells are limited in their ability to accept this high level of energy. Current PV cells by their nature have output voltages typically less than or near to 1 VDC. As the energy levels increase, the current within the PV cell also increases to reach the power level desired. The current level, however, is limited by the PV cell construction. Multiple cells can be used in series or matched to a dc-dc up converter to get the higher voltage desired. This approach, however, results in difficult manufacturing process or complex devices.
A vertical multi-junction (VMJ) photovoltaic cell is a photovoltaic cell that has an output voltage higher than a conventional single junction photovoltaic cell, and thus may be suitable for use in the aforementioned energy conversion application. However, to convert radiation energy from a laser beam having a non-uniform intensity profile with a VMJ cell, there are still some unique and critical issues needed to be solved.